Jean-Claude Van Damme and Gladys Portugese: Through the thorns to happiness

During his 60 years, Jean-Claude Van Damme managed to have affairs with many women. And this is not surprising, because at one time he was the idol of millions. And even now, the most famous karate player in Hollywood is popular with the opposite sex.

However, he himself says that his only true love is his wife Gladys. Let's find out if this is true, and remember the difficult history of their relationship.

Gladys Portugues is a former professional bodybuilder and actress. The muscular beauty twice got into the top ten at the Miss Olympia contest. She also has many other prestigious titles on her account.

Oddly enough, it was the impressive muscles that attracted Van Damme to Portugues. It happened at a party at Chuck Norris's, where both were invited as guests. At one point, Gladys was asked to demonstrate her muscles. Impressed by what he saw Van Damm approached the girl and said: "You will be my wife."

And so it turned out. In 1987, the couple got married. Van Damme wasn't famous then, as he is now. Most recently, he moved to America in order to conquer Hollywood, but all his attempts failed miserably. He had to earn extra money as a bouncer in a club, a driver, a pizza delivery boy, laying parquet…

It was only in 1988 that Van Damme achieved success. After the role in the action movie "Blood Sport", he began to be recognized and invited to other films. While the aspiring actor was building a career, Gladys helped him with training and took care of the family hearth. In this marriage, the former bodybuilder gave birth to two children to her husband. When the youngest daughter Bianca was two years old, Van Damme and Gladys decided to divorce.

Most likely, the reason for the divorce was the actor's infidelity. Before marrying Gladys, he had already been married to other women several times and was not particularly faithful. Nevertheless, seven years after the divorce, Portugez apparently forgave her ex-husband and married him again.

It is worth saying that over the years, while the couple was not together, Van Damme managed to have an affair with the girlfriend of his ex-wife Darcy Lalier. He even offered her a "hand and heart", but the athlete was only enough for nine months of the relationship. And that was enough for Van Damm to become a father for the third time.

The actor suffered a painful breakup with Darcy. He began to use alcohol and drugs, almost never filmed anywhere and slowly faded away. Rehabilitation in a drug treatment center and remarriage with Gladys helped him get back on his feet.

Unfortunately, in 2010, Van Damme again gave reason to doubt himself and almost provoked a new divorce. The media reported about the Hollywood actor's affair with Ukrainian Alyona Kaverina. The girl then worked as his personal assistant and translator, together they traveled the world and almost never parted.

The actor at that time often visited Ukraine and, as they say, even went to Krivoy Rog to meet the girl's parents. It is not known how their relationship ended, but it is known that this stormy romance brought Kaverina an apartment in her hometown.

Gladys was able to forgive this infidelity of her husband, as well as all his subsequent trips "to the left". Obviously, the cup of patience was overflowed in 2015, when Portugez publicly announced that she was filing for divorce. We don't know what Van Damm did to make his wife forgive him again, and how he apologized, but the divorce was soon canceled.

In a conversation with journalists, the actor commented on this as follows: "Gladys is my only true love. This is an amazing woman! It is reliable as a harbor to which you can return from any life storms. I always knew that she would wait for my return. There is no other such sincere, understanding, loyal and domestic woman in the world!"

Now Gladys Portugese and Jean-Claude Van Damme continue to live together-for 22 years. They raised two wonderful children, forgave each other all the insults (mostly, of course, Gladys forgave), and, as friends say, Van Damme is no longer attracted to other women. Finally, he realized that his true love was always there.

As for the children of Gladys and Van Damme, they grew up to be real beauties. With such genes, it is not surprising.

Son Christopher Van Warenberg followed in his father's footsteps – he is an actor and producer. Christopher's first appearance in the cinema took place back in 1992 – he played a cameo role of Luke Devereux in the fantastic action movie "Universal Soldier". After that, the aspiring actor appeared in all the films with the participation of his father, with the exception of" Boxer " in 2012.

The daughter of Gladys Portugese and Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bianca Brie, also decided to try herself as an actress. Her debut took place in 2008 with the role of Cassie Rabido in the film "Special Assignment" (in which Van Damme also played). Then she played in several more films, but usually they were minor or episodic roles.

In 2012, Bianca first got the main role in the science fiction film "Invasion from Outside".

Here are some more photos of a wonderful family.

Van Damme and his wife in their youth

Family photo after the restoration of marriage in 1999

Bianca Brie Van Damme